How To Make Webcomics: Ken Done

“Webcomics” is still such a nascent industry. From a purely business point of view, so much of it is new from past cartooning business models. So much of it is different. Untested. And changing. And there are few fixed guideposts that we as Webcartoonists can point to and say, “This and THIS ALONE is the way to build a career in Webcomics.” It’s a newly-birthed way to make a living. And we’re all learning — all of us.

But we’re not as alone as we think. There are many, many art-as-commerce business models we can learn from.

As cartoonists, we naturally have a tendency to look solely within the field of comics in seeking guidance to our own career. But if you do that…if you look for guidance only from other cartoonists, you’re missing a much broader and richer tapestry of advice that could be gleaned from writers, bloggers, musicians, painters, and video artists — all of whom are experimenting with new business models online.

Broaden your scope a bit: Do yourself a favor and spend a few hours researching how Australian painter Ken Done has structured the business(es) around his art, for example. It’s very instructive to the possibilities that could await you in your Webcomics career.

Done’s business is structured on two basic principles that can be applied to most every Webcomic:
1.) Own and control as much of the entertainment, interaction and merchandising process as you feasibly can.
2.) Make money on the same art, multiple ways. What I call the “Draw it once, sell it three times” method.

As a painter, it’s natural that Done would collaborate and sell through third-party galleries around the world. This is the traditional business model of the painter, right? But as every painter can attest, this lessens the net income from any individual painting sale. Galleries can take a murderous percentage of the sale. So what Done did was set up his own online and physical gallery to market and sell his paintings. Even further, Done established his own textile and clothing shop and his own homewares design shop. Each of the three — each — are built off of the exact same paintings and designs that the artist creates. Much like a Webcartoonist who sells ads around an individual comic, then sells the comic again in book form, then sells it again in t-shirt form, then sells the original art the whole thing was based on….Done’s business is built upon selling the same piece of art multiple times — and in multiple ways. And in Done’s case, each iteration is wholly owned by the artist, and is monetized and controlled by his business. Middlemen are kept to a minimum. Profit margins are significantly higher. Direct contact with an audience is maintained. And artistic control remains with the artist.

Does this sound familiar? It should: It’s the business structure that most successful Webcomics artists have found works best for their business. And Done’s been doing it for decades.

If there is nothing truly new in the world, it does us all well to research and learn from the artists who have gone before — regardless of what medium they work in. Here are a few quick links to get you started: An ABC (Australian Broadcasting Co’s) transcript with Ken, video interviews, and, most helpfully from a business perspective, the PBS
piece (click on “Video” or read the transcrips) on how he structures and views his business.

As you read more about his business, ask yourself: How is his marketing and selling of a painting — and his t-shirts and a cookie jars based on that painting — parallel to what Webcomics do? What else can be gleaned from his business model that you can apply to your Webcomics business?